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The oldest modern human fossil outside of Africa was found in Israel

The findings suggests that modern humans migrated from Africa earlier than thought

(CNN)Scientists have discovered the oldest known modern human fossil outside of Africa, estimated to be between 177,000 and 194,000 years old, according to a new study in the journal Science. The fossil of an upper jawbone that included several teeth was found in a prehistoric cave site, Misliya Cave, in Israel. Stone tools were also recovered at the site.

This suggests that modern humans may have been on the move, specifically migrating from Africa, at least 50,000 years earlier than previously believed. It helps to explain previous findings of modern human fossils in other parts of the world, which have been dated 90,000 to 120,000 years ago.

This rewrites the timeline of what we know about how Homo sapiens spread.

"We now have clear fossil evidence that modern humans moved out of Africa earlier than we previously believed," Rolf Quam, study coauthor and anthropology professor at Binghamton University, said in an email. "There have been previous suggestions of a possible earlier migration, relying on both archaeological sites and ancient DNA studies, but now we have an actual human fossil that proves it."

Three different dating techniques were used to confirm the fossil's age and classify it as Homo sapien, rather than Neanderthal or some other early human ancestor.

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The features of the jaw and teeth are unmistakably human, the researchers said.

Photos:Ancient finds

The earliest modern human fossil ever found outside of Africa has been recovered in Israel. This suggests that modern humans left Africa at least 50,000 years earlier than previously believed. The upper jawbone, including several teeth, was recovered in a prehistoric cave site.

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This is an excavated structure at the northern edge of the Grand Plaza at Teposcolula-Yucundaa in Oaxaca, Mexico. Researchers investigated a "pestilence" cemetery associated with a devastating 1545-1550 epidemic. New analysis suggests that salmonella caused a typhoid fever epidemic.

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Standing about 4 feet tall, early human ancestor Paranthropus boisei had a small brain and a wide, dish-like face. It is most well-known for having big teeth and hefty chewing muscles.

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A grand grave of a great Viking warrior excavated during the 1880s has been found to be that of a woman. She was also buried with a gaming board and pieces, hierarchically associated with officers to use for battle strategy and tactics. The drawing is a reconstruction of how the grave with the woman originally may have looked.

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An illustration shows the dodo on Mauritius near the Mare aux Songes, where many dodo skeletons have been recovered.

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A 5,000-year-old dog skull found in Germany underwent whole genome sequencing. It was found to be very similar to the genome of modern dogs, suggesting that all modern dogs are direct ancestors of the domesticated dogs that lived in the world's earliest farming communities in Europe.

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Razanandrongobe sakalavae, or "Razana," was one of the top predators of the Jurassic period in Madagascar 170 million years ago. Although it looks different from modern-day crocodiles and had teeth similar to a T. rex's, Razana was not a dinosaur but a crocodile relative with a deep skull.

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An artist's reconstruction shows Macrauchenia patachonica, which roamed South America thousands of years ago. Combining a range of odd characteristics from llamas and camels to rhinos and antelopes, Macrauchenia defied clarification until now and has been added to the tree of life. It belongs to a sister group of Perissodactyla, which includes horses, rhinos and tapirs.

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This prosthetic device was made for a priest's daughter who had to have her right big toe amputated 3,000 years ago. This surprisingly lifelike toe was made to look natural by a skilled artisan who wanted to maintain the aesthetic as well as mobility during the Early Iron Age. It was designed to be worn with sandals, the footwear of choice at the time.

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The oldest fossil remains of Homo sapiens, dating back 300,000 years, were found at a site in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco. This is 100,000 years older than previously discovered fossils of Homo sapiens that have been securely dated. The fossils, including a partial skull and a lower jaw, belong to five different individuals including three young adults, an adolescent and a child estimated to be 8 years old.

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Nodosaurs were herbivores who walked on four legs and were covered in tank-like armor and dotted with spikes for protection. But this recently unveiled 110 million-year-old fossil is the most well-preserved of the armored dinosaurs ever unearthed.

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Microfossils found in China have revealed what could be our earliest known ancestor on the tree of life. Saccorhytus was a tiny, bag-like sea creature that lived 540 million years ago.

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The discovery of a species that lived 6.6 million years ago in southwestern China suggests that ancient otters had "wolf-like" proportions, and weighed roughly 100 Ibs. The creature -- whose skull was excavated in Yunnan province -- would have been twice the size of today's otters.

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The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur was found entombed in amber in 2016, an unprecedented discovery that has blown away scientists. The amber adds to fossil evidence that many dinosaurs sported feathers rather than scales.

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The oldest known sample of the smallpox-causing variola virus was found within the DNA of a 17th century child mummy in 2016. The mummy was found in a crypt beneath a Lithuanian church. The finding shortens the timeline for how long smallpox may have afflicted humans.

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Stone tools recovered at the site further confirm the age and technology being used by these modern humans. They were shaped in a unique way called the Levallois technique, where stones were flaked around the edges to achieve a sophisticated point used in hunting. The discovery of the tools along with the fossil in this location is the earliest known association between the two in the region.

Finding the tools and fossil in such close proximity also suggests that Homo sapiens introduced this technology to the area when they appeared.

The Misliya cave site.

"The rich archaeological evidence reveals that the inhabitants of Misliya cave were capable hunters of large game species such as aurochs (extinct large cows), Persian fallow deer and gazelles," Israel Hershkovitz, study author and professor in the department of anatomy and anthropology at Tel Aviv University, said in an email. "They controlled the production of fire in hearths, made a wide use of plants and produced an Early Middle Paleolithic stone tool kit, employing sophisticated innovative techniques, similar to those found with the earliest modern humans in Africa."

Detailed studies of the tools are underway. Not only were they used for hunting, but also the processing of animal skins, scraping and cutting plants, scraping minerals and digging of edible tubers, Hershkovitz said.

Changing 'our perception of modern human evolution'

The location of the fossil supports the idea that modern humans migrated from Africa using a northern route through the Nile valley and the eastern Mediterranean coast. It helps to explain why a modern human fossil was found in China, dated to 120,000 years ago. It supports the growing research that modern humans left Africa 220,000 years ago and interacted with Neanderthals earlier than thought. And it suggests that other early modern human fossils recovered in the Qafzeh and Es Skhul caves in Israel are a result of the interactions between the Misliya people and the other local populations of the region, Hershkovitz said.

"We have a very long biological history, much longer than previously thought," Hershkovitz said. "We evolved through interaction with other hominin groups. We came out of Africa as early as 250,000 years (ago). The Qafzeh/Skhul hominins are not the earliest modern human outside Africa as previously thought. Actually, they were not migrants at all, but rather descendants of the Misliya people."

The discovery of modern humans outside of Africa earlier than expected has implications concerning evolution. This means there were even earlier opportunities for cultural and/or biological interactions with other local non-modern human species, Quam said.

"Misliya really changes our perception of modern human evolution," Gerhard Weber, study coauthor and professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Vienna, said in an email. "This evolution seems to be not that straightforward or simple as we had it in the textbooks the past years. Misliya is very modern. This wouldn't be surprising if it were 10,000 years or 40,000 years, but it is around 180-190,000 years old."

Earlier discoveries

In 2017, the discovery of the oldest Homo sapiens fossil in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, was announced. It dated back to 300,000 years ago, 100,000 years older than previously discovered fossils of Homo sapiens that had been securely dated. It also widened the "cradle of mankind" to include all of Africa, since previous findings had only occurred in east and south Africa.

But the Jebel Irhoud fossil was most likely not as "modern" as the Misliya fossil. The Jebel Irhoud fossil captures a moment in time of evolution. The facial features of the skull look like a modern human, but the brain case is very elongated and archaically characteristic of early humans.

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There has been increasing evidence that the modern human lineage diverged from Neanderthals and Denisovans 500,000 years ago, making us close relatives rather than direct descendants. Before the Jebel Irhoud discovery, it was believed that the early modern humans we evolved from were in Africa 200,000 years ago and looked very similar to modern humans. But what happened in between that time?

This is still unknown, although the researchers suggest the possibility that there were multiple groups of hominins, or human ancestors, overlapping and having complex relationships.

Because they didn't previously have fossil evidence of Homo sapiens from 300,000 years ago, this helps to fill a small part of that gap in the fossil record. The fossils provide insight about this evolutionary time for Homo sapiens before the early modern stage 200,000 years ago.

'A big step forward'

The Misliya discovery adds to the research that scientists hope will eventually solve the mystery of the in between time.

"Misliya tells us that modern humans might have been in touch with other populations, including archaic ones that were already in Eurasia," Weber said. "Now it is conceivable that also other modern humans, even a bit older than Misliya, might have left Africa -- I wouldn't be surprised now if someone finds a modern human in Eurasia at a time of 220,000 years -- and encountered Neanderthals or some forms on the way to Neanderthals.

"As any good science, Misliya raises new questions, but we made a big step forward, away from a too simple picture," Weber concluded.

The researchers are continuing their study of the fires from the Misliya cave, as well as the stone tools.

"We have started excavating at two sites that were excavated in the past, the Skhul and Tabun caves, with the hope to find some hominins that will allow us to answer further questions relating to the late phase of human evolution," Hershkovitz said.